Bouncing off my post earlier about how criminally shy I can be at times, I found the carolingia (my someday barony) lj list. Since I'm trying to get a feel for who the people up there are, that lead me to jdulac (his post looked interesting. Because I'm wierd, I ended up reading his friends page which led me to some interesting posts on reproductive rights on ginmar's lj.

Which lead me to this article on what looks to be a VERY liberal webpage. I'm not sure how much I can trust the writing here based on how violently liberal the other posts seem to be, but I'm curious enough to try to do some research when I have some spare time.

By Laura McPhee

Republican lawmakers are drafting new legislation that will makemarriage a requirement for motherhood in the state of Indiana,including specific criminal penalties for unmarried women who dobecome pregnant "by means other than sexual intercourse."

According to a draft of the recommended change in state law, everywoman in Indiana seeking to become a mother throu gh assistedreproduction therapy such as in vitro fertilization, sperm donation,and egg donation, must first file for a "petition for parentage" intheir local county probate court.

Only women who are married will be considered for the "gestationalcertificate" that must be presented to any doctor who facilitates thepregnancy. Further, the "gestational certificate" will only be givento married couples that successfully complete the same screeningprocess currently required by law of adoptive parents.

As it the draft of the new law reads now, an intended parent "whoknowingly or willingly participates in an artificial reproductionprocedure" without court approval, "commits unauthorizedreproduction, a Class B misdemeanor." The criminal charges will bethe same for physicians who commit "unauthorized practice ofartificial reproduction."

The change in Indiana law to require marriage as a condition formotherhood and criminalizing "unauthorized reproduction" wasintroduced at a summer meeting of the Indiana General Assembly'sHealth Finance Commission on September 29 and a final version of thebill will come up for a vote at the next meeting at the end of thismonth.

Republican Senator Patricia Miller is both the Health FinanceCommission Chair and the sponsor of the bill. She believes the newlaw will protect children in the state of Indiana and make parentinglaws more explicit.

According to Sen. Miller, the laws prohibiting surrogacy in thestate of Indiana are currently too vague and unenforceable, and thatis the purpose of the new legislation.

"But it's not just surrogacy," Miller told NUVO. " The law is vagueon all types of extraordinary types of infertility treatment, and wewanted to address that as well."

"Ordinary treatment would be the mother's egg and the father'ssperm. But now there are a lot of extraordinary thing s that raiseissues of who has legal rights as parents," she explained when askedwhat she considers "extraordinary" infertility treatment.

Sen. Miller believes the requirement of marriage for parenting isfor the benefit of the children that result from infertilitytreatments.

"We did want to address the issue of whether or not the law shouldallow single people to be parents. Studies have shown that a childraised by both parents - a mother and a father - do better. So, wedo want to have laws that protect the children," she explained.

When asked specifically if she believes marriage should be arequirement for motherhood, and if that is part of the bill'sintention, Sen. Miller responded, "Yes. Yes, I do."

A draft of the legislation is available on the Health FinanceCommission website